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Entrepreneurs Plan Jobs, New Companies For Syracuse CuseTank Creates Future Jobs and Entrepeneurs

Students compete for funding that will go towards their businesses

By Logan Garvey

LOGAN GARVEY: CuseTank is just one of many Blackstone Launchpad events that help create businesses made by students.
GARVEY: Blackstone Launchpad Director Linda Hartsock says out of all the businesses created by students, one-hundred forty of them are now companies throughout the world.
GARVEY: Program Manager Sam Hollander says CuseTank will be mutually beneficial for the community as well as Syracuse students.
SAM HOLLANDER: Anyone who wants can come and watch the pitches and you know really kind of get an innovative look into what’s happening on the forefront of innovation here at SU.
GARVEY: The competition will allow students to pitch to parent donors who decide which businesses get funding from a total of over twenty-two thousand dollars.
HOLLANDER: We created CuseTank as a way for student entrepreneurs to welcome their families onto campus, have their families come and watch them pitch, and so we really think it’s a great way to kind of bring the SU ecosystem full circle.
GARVEY: Jackson Ensley is the co-founder of Patchwork, one of the twenty-five businesses pitching at CuseTank. He says their company will have positive effects in the classroom.
JACKSON ENSLEY: We think that professors and students will be able to interact and have more intimate conversations within assignments and within content.
GARVEY: CuseTank will happen this Friday, October 8 from 2-5 pm right here in Bird Library. in Syracuse, I’m Logan Garvey, NCC News.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News)– Syracuse can expect a new business or two coming soon to the area.

Twenty-five student businesses will pitch their ideas Friday to donors at the CuseTank. Blackstone Launchpad, a hub for innovation and entrepreneurs, has its students hard at work for CuseTank.  

Program Manager Sam Hollander said a portion of the companies pitching on Friday can directly engage with the Central New York community.

“We have a bunch of different ventures in the launchpad,” Hollander said. “Some of them are very specifically based in and around problems in Central New York.”

Linda Hartsock, the director of Syracuse’s Blackstone Launchpad, said that there had been over 140 actual businesses launched from the events sponsored by the Launchpad.

Hartsock said the event will provide $22,500 from donors to the winning pitches. 

This will allow students to continue making their businesses while also spotlighting their pitches to event attendees.

“It’s a great way for people to get a sneak peek and engage with the community,” Hollander said.

Jackson Ensley is the co-founder of Patchwork, a Google Chrome extension for sharing conversations inside content that is read online. He said their company will have positive effects in the classroom. 

“We think that professors and students will be able to interact and have more intimate conversations within assignments and within content,” Ensley said.

Ensley and his co-founder, Paul Hultgren, have worked together on two other ventures.

“At Syracuse, we are really excited to get into some classrooms and see how it can work,” Ensley said.

Overall, Hollander is excited to see all the pitches.

“It’ll be great to see what the end product is of all the hard work and really see how friendly but community-focused competition comes together,” Hollander said. 

CuseTank will happen this Friday, Oct. 8 from 2 p.m. until5 p.m. in Bird Library.

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